Cyber schools call for action on improving virtual education

In a letter yesterday to Pennsylvania Secretary of Education Pedro Rivera, the CEOs of nine cyber charter schools, serving more than 35,000 of the approximately 36,000 students in cyber schools in the state, took the unprecedented move to invite the Secretary to participate in a dialogue between the Department of Education and the cyber schools on improving virtual education in Pennsylvania.

Last week three national organizations released a report that called for improvement in the oversight and operation of virtual charter schools nationwide. “Although none of the data in that report is new, and many of the recommendations are inappropriate or illegal in Pennsylvania, the basic premise that we could do more to assure the quality and accountability of cyber education is valid.” said Dr. Reese Flurie, CEO of Commonwealth Charter Academy. “But reports without action are useless and generalized national data is too superficial to be used as an unquestioned prescription for state public policy.”

“What we are proposing is an open and honest discussion on what virtual education can and cannot do, dig deeper into the data and recommendations relative to Pennsylvania, and change whatever needs to be changed to make Pennsylvania the national model for high-quality and cost-effective virtual education.” said Dr. Joanne Barnett, CEO of the Pennsylvania Virtual Charter School. “It’s time to stop the combative nature of discourse relative to public education and work together for the benefit of the students, parents, and taxpayers.”

Cyber charter schools are doing a good job of serving a student population that would otherwise fall through the cracks in the traditional system. But there is always room for improvement and the cyber CEOs want to look at the national recommendations, determine what can work in Pennsylvania, and work together with the Department of Education to make those improvements happen.